Netting-machine



nEiTEn sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

JOI-IN MCMULLEN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

NETTING-IVIACHINE.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 15,245, dated July 1, 1856.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN MCMULLEN, of the city of Baltimore and State ofMaryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement on John McMullensNetting-Machine, patented June 27, 1846; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of theconstruction and operation of the same, reference being had to theannexed drawing, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure lis a plan and Fig. 2 a vertical section on line :c fr.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures denote the samepart.

My invention, which is an improvement On the netting machine patented byme on the 27th day of June, 1846, is designed to effect the tighteningof the knots, continuously and regularly, as the net is delivered fromthe aforesaid machine; making this tightening action simultaneous withthe netting operation; and not interfering with the requisite slack ofmaterial for the formation of the knots by the machine.

The knots formed by my machine pass from it in a loose state, the weltwhich forms the half hitch, being in a transverse position, and causingthe meshes to have an oblong shape,. smallest in direction of the lengthof the net. Stretching lengthwise will double in this welt to form itsportion of the knot, and thus square the mesh. Yet, to prevent too muchof the weft being taken up in tightening the knots, it is necessary toeffect a certain portion of this tightening by a lateral strain on theknots.y TheseV being the conditions under which the tightening apparatusmust act, I will here state my invention as follows.

The nature of my invention consists in conveying the net as it comesfrom the machine, between and partially around two pressure rollers,Yand in effecting th-e tightening between those rollers and the clothbeam; the distance between said beam and the rollers, being such thatlongitudinal strain given the net,will, with the lateral resistance ofthe rollers, produce a square mesh and knots of the requisite tightness.

The invention further consists in so connecting a lever bar (under whichthe net passes, on leaving the machine) with the pawl driving the clothbeam, that the tightening of the net, between the machine and the leverbar, beyond the slackness requisite for the formation of the knots, willstop the rotation of the clot-h beam.

In the drawing R R are the'pressure rollers, and B the cloth beam. R isa roller under which the net passes before reaching the cloth beam.These several parts are contained in a suitable frame F.

Motion is comunicated to the cloth beam B, by the turning of ratchet rby pawl p. This pawl is moved by the lever Z, with which it is jointed,by reason of stud s and slot s. The pawl p is connected by rod a withthe rock shaft Z), the other arm c of which is att-ached to the leverbar cl; so that the lifting of lower edge of said lever bar, will raisethe pawl p from ratchet r. This connection of the lever bar with thepawl, is extremely sensitive, so that the slightest pressure against thelower edge of said bar, will lift the pawl and stop the rotation of thecloth beam. The movement of ratchet r is communicated to the cloth beamthrough pinion e and cog wheel g; t-he dimensions of which regulate thevelocity of winding the net on the beam to the speed of delivery fromthe machine. Pawls 7L L hold wheel g and preventslipping. Thisstretching appara-tus is for convenience placed behind the nettingmachine the net passing, from where the knots are formed, under themachine to this stretcher. It may however be placed in front of themachine. Motion is communicated to the stretcher by a band over pulleyP, and the net passed under the vlever bar and between the pressurerollers as shown in the drawing. The pressure of the rollers is governedby lever Z.

The net is stretched and the knots tightened bet-Ween the pressurerollers and the cloth beam, as above set forth. Vhen from any cause theportion of the net between the machine and lever bar, drawsvupon thesaid guard bar, with a tendency to decrease the requisite slack forforming the knots, the lever bar through the rock shaft connection abovedescribed, suspends the rotation of the cloth beam, until the requisiteslack is again obtained.

What I claim as my invention is- In testimony whereof, I have hereuntoFinishing the meshes of the net and tightensigned my name before twosubscribing Witing the knots by the simultaneous longtunesses. y

dinal and lateral strain of pressure rollers JOHN MCMULLEN.

5 and Cloth beam operating substantially as Witnesses:

speeied; the relative position of said rollers WM. I-I. BAYJAND, andbeam being automatically preserved. L. M. REYNOLDS.

